Do You Fear
by CrypticCalico
Summary: ‘ “Do you fear?” The darkness whispered.’ Oneshot.


The darkness was all-encompassing, enveloping; an omnipresent _thing_ that was untainted and unbroken, immeasurably vast and unrestricted in its limitless infinity. It was a dreadful, malevolent darkness, and an eternity all in itself.

_Do you fear? _The darkness whispered.

And he was afraid.

Then, out of the darkness, there came a light. A pinprick of light, flickering and fading and glimmering dully far in the distance. He drew submissively nearer, pulled by an invisible force that he knew he could not resist. The light grew larger and brighter as he approached, but the darkness did not waver as he thought it would; it remained hungry and sinister, watching him with spiteful unseen eyes.

_Do you fear? _

He then realized that the light was a lantern, pulsing with an eerie glow in the midst of the darkness. He reached out and touched it softly with one finger.

Suddenly there was a great flash of blinding white light, and he found himself on the heart-wrenchingly familiar deck of the ethereal _Flying Dutchman. _The final battle of that day replayed itself in front of him, and he watched in resignation; his eyes were no longer in his control.

Rain spattered forebodingly across the deck, foretelling of death and hardship. The clouds were heavy and dark in the gray sky, letting through no breath of hope or warmth. The sun was not welcome in this place.

He looked on, as Davy Jones thrust his cruel sword through William Turner's heart; his courageous, loving, loyal heart. He watched Elizabeth Swann, William Turner's love, and saw her heart break as this happened. Her sweet, compassionate, caring heart.

His own heart ached with sorrow and guilt, and he reached out to them.

_Do you fear?_

Another flash of white, and he was on the _Flying Dutchman _once again. This time, it was different; reborn when its new captain was resurrected upon its deck, pristine and perfect as it had once been, long ago.

But they were all there; the new captain, William, his wife Elizabeth, and their son. Their young son, so new to the world, inexperienced and unlearned. They were all there, on the _Dutchman_; gray and wraithlike, skin pallid, ashy cheeks, eyes dull and lifeless; and that could mean only one thing.

Death.

Had he driven them to this? Was it the only way they could be together?

He moaned and clutched his head in his hands. It was his doing that had brought this upon them, an innocent young family. It would never leave him alone. Remorse and shame ripped through his heart, and the beginnings of sobs began to send tremors through his thin frame.

_Do you fear? _

A third flash of white. He was on a beach now, an island beach. Warm brown rocks littered the shore, the waves flowing and ebbing up onto the white sand, shining in the sunlight. Some ways ahead of him, a dark spot on the sand caught his attention. It did not belong there.

He already knew what it was.

Again, he was pulled towards it by the insubstantial being that had once been the darkness.

The chest that contained the heart of the one who captained the _Flying Dutchman, _unceremoniously left open and abandoned to be rotted away by the elementsThe heart itself, William's heart, lay on the sand beside the chest. Blood flowed steadily from it, onto the sand and into the waves, slowly feeding its defeated crimson colour to the tide. A knife that he recognized rested on a rock nearby; it was a knife that had once been a sword. Its tip shone with an unnatural red luster in the sunlight.

He began to cry then; true tears of grief that he had robbed of himself, until this moment.

_Do you fear? _The darkness whispered.

Then, without warning, he was swallowed up by the darkness once again. The same darkness that had followed him through it all; the horrible, wicked darkness that had ravaged and tore at his heart for so long. That darkness was full of whispers now, blaming and accusing and condemning.

_Do you fear? Do you fear? Do you fear?_

A gray mist materialized out of the darkness in front of him. It twisted and writhed as it assumed its shape, a shape that sent chills down his spine as he trembled before it. His instincts screamed at him to run; running had always been his way out. But here, in this neverending, hateful blackness, there was nowhere to run.

The mist took on the shape of a face; a terrible, condescending face that sneered and derided him. William, Elizabeth, and their son; three faces merged and conjoined as one. He was frightened of that face. It opened its mouth… and began to whisper.

The whispering darkness, inside of him and surrounding him, part of him and part of the horrific face, whispered louder and louder until the sound of its roar filled his ears and drowned out his own screams of terror:

_DO YOU FEAR? DO YOU FEAR? DO YOU FEAR? DO YOU FEAR? _

Jack awoke screaming and trembling in his bed. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his body awash in a cold sweat. His heart thudded in his chest, and his mind reeled as he gasped for air. His hammering heart began to slow as he took in the room surrounding him; the small room the innkeeper had let him have for an unreasonable price.

He sighed and rolled over, wiping his face and letting himself relax in relief. He shivered in the cool air, and knew that he probably wouldn't fall asleep again for some time. The nightmares had returned, after nearly a month of restful nights. The guilt would never leave him, and he knew that, even though Will and Elizabeth had forgiven him. After what he had done to them, the best friends he had ever had; the only people who had been genuinely kind to him, the ones whose friendship he had almost thrown away. Only one day together every ten years; that was an immense sacrifice on their part. But they loved each other that much.

Suddenly, a new realization dawned on him.

This time, he knew what the darkness had been asking him.

It had not been asking him if he feared death.

_Do you fear love, Jack Sparrow? _


End file.
